HispanicVista Columnists

Water Tower Mentality

By Bill Dahl

April 4, 2005

            On March 28, 2005 the Los Angeles Times published an article entitled Towering Canvas For Selling a City.^[i][i] This piece was about the dialog going on within the Santa Ana, Calif., city-council about how to spend $500,000.00 to paint the exterior of the city’s primary, faded water tower. 

In September 2004, the L.A. Times published an article based upon the results of a national survey by the Nelson A. Rockefeller School of Government. The results of this study landed Santa Ana, CA as the as the #1 Toughest City in America to make ends meet (the social-scientific term used by the Rockefeller School of Government is a “hardship index”). Thus, I suggested to the Times Editorial Board that the Santa Ana City Council paint the tower with “We’re # 1” until such time that community leadership acts to substantively correct this atrocious reality. The $500,000 allotted to paint a water tower could be put to much better use for a city that possesses this dubious distinction. In this regard, annual repainting of the digit would reveal to the citizens of Santa Ana that improvements are truly being made, as evidenced by the results of a well-respected, independent, third-party assessment. “We’re #48” in 2006 would take on new meaning and significance prompting conversations filled with community pride. Councilman Mike Garcia’s suggestion of an electric sign with the ability to change the message would reduce the annual cost of repainting the digit(s).

The Santa Ana City council is wrestling with the issue of painting a water tower whose “Education 1^st” moniker has become an eyesore since a March 2005 study revealed 30-40% of high school students drop-out before graduation. The council is also immersed in the debate over whether or not to approve a 38-story office-building project. Perhaps this is an indication that the City Council is looking up, when they should be looking around themselves. The reputation of the City of Santa Ana will not improve until elected community leadership pull their heads out of the clouds and get their feet more firmly planted on the ground with issues that really matter. Santa Ana is not alone.

American society suffers from Water Tower Syndrome: Slapping a little lipstick, make-up, or a little paint on our problems won’t rectify the fundamental ills of any city, state or country. Frankly, it doesn’t have much enduring impact on individuals either. We won’t capture the opportunities to make the essential progress by continuing to be deceived by the allure of cosmetic changes for social problems and injustices that wash off in the rain, glow in the dark or fade in the sunlight. Painting canvasses that broadcast sales pitches that contradict and distract us from everyday reality lead us only deeper and deeper into treacherous waters of the type of mindless chatter that, left unabated, will drown us. “Lifeguard! Help!”

Water Towers and U.S. Immigration Policy

            As I pondered the Santa Ana water tower conundrum, I began to wonder, why water towers? I came to the conclusion that the water tower issue provides some remarkable insights into the present status of immigration reform in this country. Let me explain.

Essential – Water towers? You have to have one, I guess. Immigration policy? The same.

Fundamental – Water distribution is the lifeblood of any community. Without a dependable water supply, life becomes chaotic at best. An immigration policy that does not dispense liberty and justice for all creates mass confusion for everyone.

Procrastination – The city of Santa Ana is faced with this conundrum because they postponed the annual care required to maintain a viable vessel. The same is true with U.S. immigration policy. We have sat around for 20 years now watching the paint fade on the existing policy.

Everybody – A water distribution vessel like Santa Ana’s water tower impacts everybody. If it becomes porous by virtue of the rust allowed to grow on it due to lack of proper care, the viability of the entire system is impaired. The same is true with immigration policy. It’s not the water’s fault. Somebody is responsible for it’s upkeep.

Sends a message – Santa Ana’s water tower sends a message other than there’s water in here. The current Education 1^st message on the tower has become a lie. The liberty and justice for all message of this nation has become corrupted by the condition of our current immigration policy. By the way, you can’t hide a water tower and the message it broadcasts. Everybody sees it and knows the message is an outdated, cruel symbol of mismanagement. The same is true with U.S. immigration policy.

Inflow – You can’t have a water tower without inflow. The same is true with a nation’s immigration policy.

Quality - By allowing the vessel to continue to deteriorate, water quality will be compromised for all concerned. The fresh water coming in will be compromised because the vat’s bad. The public policy that contains our immigration laws has deteriorated. Perhaps it’s time to stop blaming those who enter this nation.

Character – Santa Ana’s water tower conundrum is full of messages about a community’s character. How the elected leaders of Santa Ana deal with this issue will send a powerful message to the surrounding area. In regard to U.S. immigration policy, the whole world’s watching.

The vessel that contains the sustenance of life for Santa Ana is in dire need of immediate repair. So is immigration policy here in the U.S. It’s not that the water contained within the vessel that is bad. Another name for a vessel is ship. The U.S.S. Leader. Yep, it’s the Leader ship that has become a rusting hull. A new coat of paint just won’t cover it.

Now What?

I am absolutely convinced that blaming leadership contributes more to perpetuating the ongoing social ills of this nation that anything else. Once we assess the blame for a problem to someone, we seem to have succumbed to a sinister freedom to move on. Yet, we have resolved nothing. I have been guilty of this myself far too often than I care to recall. It’s time to move beyond the blame game.

Theologian Jim Wallis wrote in his most recent book, “the way to reach common ground is to move to higher ground.”^[ii][ii]  In this final section, we will examine what moving to higher ground might look like.

Confront reality – Hey, the water tower needs more than a coat of paint! It’s rusting! Immigration reform requires a much better response than just dealing with the superficial, emotionally charged, fear-laced issues most people are comfortable in reacting to. Jesus was constantly in the grill of His disciple’s shouting, "Do you still not understand?"^[iii][iii] Jesus was admonishing those around Him to look beyond the circumstances that were apparent to them when confronting reality. For the Christian, reality has dimensions we cannot physically see. Let’s apply this giftedness from our Savior to the resolution of our social problems.

Forgiveness and Mercy – The present members of the Santa Ana city council are not responsible for the present condition of the water tower. However, they are responsible for its’ repair and restoration. The same is true for our elected officials in the U.S. Congress. Elected officials are also responsible for insuring that we don’t slap paint on rust anymore. It just doesn’t work. We are responsible to uphold our elected officials by supporting those who muster the courage to tell us the truth about the state of social ills and the essential costs and sacrifices we must bear to rectify these fundamental deficiencies. The words of Jesus that echo throughout the corridors of time have application to the issues we face today; “If you had known what these words mean, `I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent.^[iv][iv] However, we have every right to be intolerant of elected officials who are prone to painting happy faces on rusting water towers.

Morality – To allow the water tower to continue to deteriorate would be unconscionable and immoral. The entire community of Santa Ana would be negatively impacted if the current state of deterioration s not rectified. The same is true with U.S. immigration policy reform. Nothing is more immoral than casting current immigration policy reform outside of a moral framework.

Cost – There’s a cost to doing things right. There’s also a cost for doing them wrong, half-way or allowing the problem to continue to fester. Authors Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo characterize this issue quite well in the following, “In the process of being against something worth being against, one often becomes for something not worth being for.”^[v][v] Is being against repairing the water tower now worth the incredible costs we will confront down the road if we do nothing or just apply a new coat of paint. It’s time to drop the paint-brushes and erect some scaffolding to examine and rectify the structural deficiencies that exist in U.S. immigration reform. The words of Jesus are pertinent here: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' ^[vi][vi]

It’s time to start viewing the problems that confront us as opportunities. As the Apostle Paul said, “Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.”^[vii][vii] Constricting the inflow into the water tower, painting a new message on its’ exterior, or draining the water already inside it won’t solve the problem. None of these methods will provide the fundamental, enduring solutions that U.S. immigration policy reform demands either.

Perhaps the wisdom within the following points us in the direction higher ground: “American Christianity has largely failed since the middle of the twentieth century because Jesus modern-day disciples do not act like Jesus. They fail to represent Him well not because they are incapable of Christlike behavior or out of an absence of good intentions, but because they do not think like Him. You and I may profess to be followers, but remember, the most significant evidence of our loyalty is not what we say but what we do.”^[viii][viii]

Perhaps it’s time to gaze beyond the tops of office buildings, beyond the confines of our self-interest, beyond the rusting water towers that dot the landscape of our great nation. It’s time for a new posture. One that begins on our knees, pleading that He will deliver us from our affection with Water Tower Syndrome.

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Bill Dahl, a contributing columnist to HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/)  is a freelance writer and social justice advocate and activist.  Contact Bill at: wsdahl@pacbell.net  or see his website at http://www.justjesus.us/ Bill is published in several professional publications, magazines, websites, newspapers and newsletters. He has been an on-air guest on FOX radio in Los Angeles, CA. He is the author of five manuscripts, presently under consideration for publication. Bill earned a Bachelors and Masters degree at Washington State University. He has taught at the university and community college level. He has extensive public speaking experience and has led seminars throughout the United States.

Copyright © 2005  by Bill Dahl. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. All rights reserved. Rights for publishing this article, in part or its entirety, in other languages, audio and any other form are contracted to Bill Dahl.

Requests for permission to make copies of or transmit, reprint any part of this work should be sent to to: Bill Dahl, wsdahl@pacbell.net

 Bibliography & Notes

^[ix][i] Los Angeles Times – March 28, 2005 - Towering Canvas For Selling a City by Jennifer Delson, Copyright © 2005 by Tribune Media Services, Inc.

^[x][ii] Wallis, Jim God’s Politics – Why The Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It – A New Vision For Faith and Politics in America, HarperSanFrancisco, A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers, Copyright © 2005 by Jim Wallis p. 78.

^[xi][iii] Mark 8:21 – NIV

^[xii][iv] Matthew 12: 7- NI 

^[xiii][v] Campolo, Tony and McLaren, Brian Adventures in Missing the Point – How the Culture Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel, Emergent YS Books -  Zondervan Publishers, Inc. Grand Rapids, MI., Copyright © 2003 by Youth Specialties p. 242. 

^[xiv][vi] Luke 14: 28-30 – NIV 

^[xv][vii] Ephesians 5:15-17 – NIV 

^[xvi][viii] Barna, George Think Like Jesus – Make The Right Decision Every Time, Integrity Publishers, Nashville, TN Copyright © 2003 by George Barna p.40